Spurs-Grizzlies Preview
By JUSTIN EINHORN
The San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies both went into a tailspin following their triple-overtime thriller earlier this month. Both came out of it over the weekend with critical victories entering Tuesday night's rematch in Memphis.
Key injuries are a big reason why both teams had been struggling. San Antonio's Tony Parker (hamstring) has missed the last two games and 10 of 13, Kawhi Leonard (bruised hand) has sat out seven straight and neither are expected back Tuesday. Grizzlies leading rebounder Zach Randolph (knee) also won't return after missing the last four games, and his absence could be particularly vital to this matchup.
Randolph's 21 points and 21 rebounds helped Memphis (22-8) emerge with a 117-116 triple-overtime win in San Antonio on Dec. 17. He had averaged just 10.8 points and 9.7 boards in the previous nine meetings as the Grizzlies lost them all, including a four-game sweep in the 2013 Western Conference finals.
Teammate Mike Conley spoke afterward about how critical that win was to the Grizzlies' psyche.
"We definitely needed it mentally more so than anything," he said. "We've always felt like we can match up with them and we can play with them, but they are always one or two plays better or just one or two hustle plays or out-execute us and that's been the difference in the series the last couple of years."
Expending so much effort that day and losing Randolph to injury two nights later may have factored into the Grizzlies losing their next four games after opening 21-4. The skid finally ended Saturday in Miami, winning 103-95 as Conley scored 24 points and Marc Gasol added 22 with 10 rebounds.
"For us to draw a line and say that we've been struggling and we've got to pull ourselves out of this, it just happened to be here tonight," coach Dave Joerger said.
The Spurs (19-13) felt similarly the next night after a 110-106 win over Houston. They entered having lost seven of eight for their worst stretch of the Tim Duncan era.
Whereas San Antonio was without Parker and Leonard while the Rockets had all of their top players in action, it was Patty Mills' season debut which sparked a victory that dropped Houston one-half game behind Memphis for the Southwest Division lead. Mills, who missed the first 31 games following shoulder surgery, scored all eight of his points in the fourth quarter.
"His energy, just his activity was contagious," Duncan said. "It was great for us; brought a huge spark to the team."
Gasol continues to do that for Memphis. He's scored at least 20 in a career-high four consecutive games, averaging 24.5 points to go with 10.3 rebounds, and has done so in 17 games this season to match a personal best.
Gasol has averaged 27.0 points and 10.5 boards in this season's two matchups with the Spurs.
"I think he really took it to another level this year," Duncan said. "The last couple years, he's kind of been secondary to some of those other guys on his team. ... His confidence is high, playing really well, scoring, rebounding - the whole gambit. Our focus definitely needs to be on him."
The Grizzlies could be focused greatly on Manu Ginobili, averaging 21.3 points in the past three meetings.
Cory Joseph, starting in Parker's place, has averaged 16.0 points on 76.0 percent shooting in the last three games.
While the Spurs have lost three straight road games, Memphis has dropped three in a row at home - each by six points - after opening 12-1 at FedEx Forum.